LAHARPE — John Heard figures he’ll take his 1971 Chevy Nova for a spin this weekend.
He won’t go far — he couldn’t if he wanted to.
And he won’t take long — the quicker the better.
And if all goes well, Heard will be hoisting a trophy late Sunday afternoon at Mo-Kan Dragway in rural Asbury, Mo.
Heard will participate in the 50th annual Labor Day Nationals, where he’ll race in the Mako Real Street Division.
Each race will take less than 5 seconds, and he’ll go in excess of 150 mph across the one-eighth mile track.
Heard is optimistic he can build on his most successful racing season to date, with three wins under his belt already.
Heard races at several regional tracks, stretching from Wichita to Tulsa and Rogersville, Mo., on the outskirts of Springfield.
HEARD, who has raced almost regularly since 2003, was hopeful for a successful season when he lined up for his first race of the year at Ozark Raceway Park in Rogersville.
“We were often the bridesmaid but never the bride” in 2014, Heard recalled. “We did well all year, but we only won once.”
Not only did he win in his opening 2015 weekend, he set the track record in the process, running the eighth-mile stretch in 4.77 seconds and at a speed of 150.77 mph.
“We were just looking to go from A to B, and not having anything go wrong,” Heard said. “When we won there, we thought we had something going.”
From there, Heard won the Extreme 275 class at Kansas National Dragway in Wichita.
He then took home a runner-up finish back in Rogersville, despite having mechanical issues.
“We ran a 4.84 with our transmission about to blow up,” he recalled.
Heard replaced the faulty transmission, and then won again.
Most recently, he reached the semifinals at the “Throwdown at T Town” at Tulsa Raceway Park.
Do the winnings fully fund the maintenance necessary to race such a powerful machine?
“It certainly helps,” Heard replied with a chuckle. “These are definitely not cheap cars to play with.”
Heard’s Nova is equipped with a 582-cubic-inch, big block engine that uses nitrous oxide.
HEARD’S LOVE of drag-racing came about naturally.
“There’s a lot of things I enjoy about it,” he said. “Much of it is the technical side. I like tinkering with cars and electronics, and I can do that with these cars.”
Just as importantly are the friendships Heard and wife Chris have built and maintained at the track.
“We have a lot of close friends through racing,” he said. “It’s great getting to meet our friends at the racetrack and have a good time.”
He also has developed a number of new business relationships through his company, Beyond Engineering, which builds and runs Internet websites. Included among his clients are several automotive and racing-related businesses.
“It’s a great activity to combine both business and hobby,” he said.
HEARD saw the old Nova for the first time while driving with his daughter, Savannah, in Chanute in 2001.
“I’d actually been looking for a Camaro to play around with,” said Heard, who used to race in circle tracks in his younger days. “But Savannah saw this primered Nova and thought it looked pretty cool. I thought it looked good, too. We picked it up and drove it home.”
Heard tinkered with the car for a couple of years before taking to the track.
“Once we started drag-racing, it kind of snow-balled. It had just been something we drove around town.”
Even today, with all its firepower, the Nova remains street legal.
“It has lights and tags,” Heard noted. “I don’t think we’ll be taking it out much, though. We may take it around the block once or twice.”
HEARD’S PIT crew chief also happens to be his biggest fan.
Wife Chris is there at the ready when needed, with or without a wrench.
“She can change plugs, she can drive the push cart, does the water, helps with fuel,” he said. “I couldn’t do this without her.
“She also keeps my head on straight,” he added with a laugh. “If I’m thinking of something to do, she’ll go ‘ehh.’ Or there are other times she’ll have to goad me into doing something I wasn’t wanting to do. We make a good team.”
One of the couple’s first dates came in 2008 at the Wichita racetrack.
She watched as Heard got slightly out of shape, and then slammed his car into the guardrail.
“I was fine,” he recalled. ‘It wasn’t a bad wreck, but it tore up enough that we wanted to strip it down and start over.”
The rebuild lasted the better part of four years as he tore the Nova down to the bare frame, then installed a new cage, engine and eventually paint scheme.
As an aside, Heard’s Nova narrowly missed being demolished in Joplin’s 2011 tornado. He was scheduled to take the car to Tim’s Body Shop a week before the storm destroyed the garage and several cars inside.
“We were just waiting for the call to get our car in,” he said. “He told us after that weekend’s races to bring it down. The tornado hit that night.”
EVEN WITH the inherent dangers of hurtling down an asphalt surface at break-neck speeds, both John and Chris are comfortable with his hobby.
“I’ve learned over the years when the car gets out of shape to take my foot out of it, and not try to be a hero,” he said. “This car can be kind of mean. It’ll hurt you if you’re not careful. But Chris usually knows what I’m going to do, and how far I can push things.”
“There is a love of the sport,” Chris added. “It is an acquired taste. Either you really like it, or it’s not something you’re into. I’d already been around it some, so I was used to it.”
For now, the Heards are content.
John, especially, is eager to fiddle with the motor and gear system as fall approaches. Cooler air is ideal for prime racing conditions.
“I’d love to get my time down to the 4.60s,” he said. “That’d be a neat way to cap the year. We probably have four or five more aces depending on which ones we want to go to before the snow flies.”
And after that?
“I don’t know how long we’ll keep doing this,” he said. “I guess it’ll be whenever we stop having fun. And we’re still having fun.”
